A few days before Pope Benedict XV1 flew to the US on what he called a pilgrimage, the Holy See released a video of the Pope addressing his "brothers and sisters" in Christ and asking for their prayers "without the power (of which) our human endeavour would achieve very little".
He divulged to his American audience that the theme of his visit was Christ Our Hope and that he was going to the US "to proclaim this great truth: Jesus Christ is hope for every man and woman of every language, race, culture and social condition... Christ is the face of God present among us. Through Him our life reaches fullness".
And so it was that he passed on his message of hope to every audience he addressed, to the United Nations General Assembly, to the staff of the UN on a different occasion on the same day, to seminarians and young people, to congregations at the National Park stadium in Washington and to the even more impressive gathering at the Yankee Stadium in New York prior to his return to Rome.
Those who followed the progress of the Pope's five-day stay in the US - and hundreds of millions did - saw for themselves the impact he had on all those with whom he came in contact. From the first day at the Andrews Air Force base, where Shepherd One landed, it was clear that this scholar, teacher, preacher, this modern-day Peter struck a chord with his immediate audience and with its worldwide facsimile watching events unroll on television.
At home and abroad, they heard the spontaneous Happy Birthday chant and saw his delighted reaction. They listened as he spoke to educators, to inter-religious leaders, to seminarians and youngsters on the eve of his departure and heard them chant "We love you. We love you". They saw him being moved by this surge of affection.
They worshipped with him on profane ground made sacred for the occasion - where he touched base with such sureness and spoke with gentle and firm authority (the firmer he was the louder the applause). They marvelled at his sureness of touch when he addressed the UN and held up Christ before the Assembly as the Way, the Truth and the Life.
By the end of the visit he had established a moving rapport with all those who turned up to listen to him and as he was about to leave, the emotion at J.F. Kennedy Airport, where Vice President Richard Cheney delivered an impressive speech, was palpable.
The event could have easily been compared to the emotion that had been experienced by two disciples who had journeyed with a Christ they had not recognised but who had so struck them by what he had said to them on the way that they turned to him and asked he stay with them a while longer.
Alas, he could not do that. Rome wanted him back and so did other cities and countries he was scheduled to visit, not least Sydney in Australia where he will be going in three months' time for World Youth Day. Clearly, a Pope's work is never done, not even when he reaches four-score years and one.
What was clear when Shepherd One rose into the New York night sky to return Pope Benedict whence he came, was that in five days he had re-sown seeds of faith and goodwill in the US, proclaimed the Christ of hope so vividly, urged American Catholics so eloquently to take their faith to, and live it in, the "public square".
One could feel with some certainty that he had initiated a process of evangelisation. This fitted superbly with the context of the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Holy Sees of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Louisville and the elevation of the country's first diocese in Baltimore to a metropolitan archdiocese.
Has Pope Benedict ushered in a Second Spring?